Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-02-03

beers OF their family by adoption. if
not otherwise There are some
names met with in England which
appear never 70 have crossed the
border. Among those Of which En-
gland may thus claim to have monop-
ely, we find Churchyard. Deadman.
Scamp, Swindler, GOtobed, Slaughter,
Startup. Twentyman, Allbones, Little
proud, Fudge, Puddle and Wildblood.
The most prevalent surnames in Scot
land, according to Mr.. George Seton.
are Smith, the name of one person in
every sixty-nine; Macdonald, one in
seventy-eight; Brown, one in eighty
nine; Robertson, one in ninety-One:
Campbell. one in ninety-two; Thomp-
son, one in ninety-five, and Stewart,
one in ninety-eight. ''One person in
every twelve in Scotland" says Mr..
Seton, '.will answer to one or 9TH
er of these seven Names" The
Smiths in England and Wales are
calculated to be about one in every se"-
enty-three of the population. If we
take three common names of Smith,
Jones and Williams, one person in
twenty-eight will answer to one or
other of them. Life with good num-
Der is struggle at the best. and the
success that attends us is influenced
more than people sometimes think by
the names we bear. Even the sound of
a name is of consequence. Harsh
Names" says Isaac Disraeli, evil
have, in spite of all our philosophy, a
painful and ludicrOus effect on our
ears and our associations. 1t is vexa-
tious that the softness of delicious
vOwels or the ruggedness of memorable
consonants should at all be connected
with a mans happiness, or even have
an influence on his fortunes" Some
names, indeed, are almost fatal to sue
cess; they simply suggest jokes and en-
courage familiarity. A man has no
hesitation in proving "by thumps upon
your back how he esteems your merit"
if you are called Trigger, or Tapp, or
Trundle, or LittlebOy, but he would
hardly venture on it were you more
aristocratic Montgomery. or a Gas
coigne. For a man to inherit an
absurd or insignificant name is to
have a stone tied round his neck
in childhood to keep him all his life in
the depths of obscurity. It would be diff
cult to find famous character in lit
erature, or any thing else, with sur
name at least approaching in character
to, say, TOothaches, or Bang, or Baby.
Who could fancy Squib or Cable
visited at any time by the inspirations
of genius? John Wilkes expressed this
idea once in conversation with DR..
johnson. They were speaking of Elk
anah Settle, the last of the city poets.
There is something in names," said
Wilkes, (which one can not help feel
ing. Now Elkanah Settle sounds so
queer; who can expect much from that
name? We should have no hesitation
to give it for John Dryden in prefer
ence to Elkanah Settle from the names
only, without knowing their different
merits" Considerations such as these,
not to speak of testamentry injunctions
and conditions attached to deeds of en-
tail, have induced people from time to
time to change their names. The world
being as it is, and mans instinct lead
ing him to fasten on and worry the
it is often n sensible pro-
ceeding. Cuthbert is made to take the
place of Cuddy: McAlpine of Halfpen-
ny; Belcome of Bullock; De Winton of
Wilkins. and Ephraim Bug is trans.
formed into the aristocratic Howard
Leisure Hours.